Beyond Belief - Work

With the Rockaway-bred rapper's taste for beer and weed-fueled house parties, his penchant for polysyllabic rhymes so cleverly convoluted you can't help but laugh (“perpetratin' hater/perforated paper” is my all-time fave), and his tendency to drop cultural references far removed from the hip-hop scene, it's kinda Beyond Belief that the Bobby J./Beastie Boys connection hadn't occurred to me till just now—after listening to the lead single off his debut full-length, though, the influence couldn't be more apparent. Making its world premiere right here at DJBooth, Work finds BB spitting new-old school fire over an similarly era-bridging beat by his musical mentor; though Kwame's propulsive, kick-driven groove on the first two verses has a trendy, minimalist feel, the sample-collage hook (featuring a snippet from Licensed to Ill track Hold It Now, Hit It) and beat-switched closing verse are brimming with the off-the-cuff retro flavor that defined the Beasties' early work. If this DJBooth exclusive has your head a-bobbing, you're sure to find more to your liking on What About BOB?, out Aug. 20th off Make Noise!!.